Expansible-fluid turbine.



No. 878,118. PATENTED FEB. 4, 1908.

1 B. S. CHURCH I EXPANSIBLE FLUID TURBINE.

APPLICATION FILED 0OT.6, 1904. I

' 2 sums-3mm 1.

WlTN/ziSS/LS; W I W F/VENTOR.

77,: y I I W I TO'RNEK T TED STATES BEN Jam sloHuRcH PATEnr OFFICE.

, or nEwYoRK, N.. Y.--

Specification of l'ietterg fatena Patented Feb.4,1eos. I

Application filed October 6. isoa lie-1h 1%.? 221.294.

To all whom it concern:

Be it known that I, BENJAMIN S. CHURCH;

of the borough of Manhattan-of the city,

county, and State of New York, have in-t vented certain new and useful Improvements .in .Expansible Fluid Turbines, "of which the following is a full, com lete, andexact. description, reference .being' ad to the accompanying illustrations, which are hereby made part thereof.

' The object of. my mvention'is to produce a turbine, which can be designed within a H large ran eof rotative speeds, being moreparticular y adapted to secure slow speeds of undue size of the turbine;

revolution, and also'to produc'e a turbine number-and sim licity of its operat ve 'parts possessing in a dition.

the necessary requisites for obtaining a mg degree of thermodynamic efliciency-without as a whole. Figural isa side view of the turbine, having portions of the casing broken "away to; show the interior, the part It shown in vertical sectionobeing a. rtion of-the 'fixed guide rt showing t e ports passmg through section being taken along the line 11of. Fig.2. Fig. 2 is asectional view '-.-taken one; plane perpendicular to Fig.- 1

along the 'line 2-2. I

he method of supporting the turbine is as followsz'B is the base -u n which the turbine rests and consists o a metallic sup ort of any suitable design or shape and to w 'ch are bolted by the bolts b b b b the A -i'rame A and two pillow blocks, one of which, P, is shown in Fig. 2 as su p'ottingone end-of the- -shaft 8 upon which t e. A-frame A'rests in such a manner as to rmitted a slight angular movement arou' S. Each of the said A-frames is approximately Y shaped at' its upper extremity, as shown in Fig. 1, and

, is provided with a pillow block P. on each.

which can be. cheayliiyconstructed'because of. the relatively sma a spherical zone'which fits accuratelybetween the rings-1' r, and the-packing collars p dp",;which are contained in the-hubs c an are retained 'inposition by means of the bolts marked b. I that by this arrangement, which is use as an example of one ofi the; man e uivalent forms of construction intend to lfil the same end, an .distort' not the turbine casresulting omiun' ual pressuresor tem-.

nor canit 4 cause any i upon the A packing co ars p, 12",} andthe rings 17 ,17, an suitable the purpose st ren s: from enterthe vacuum within the "where the turbine is o er'ated condensing-w th steam as the expansi lefluid; but no packing iss'hown because. it is believed {that with accurate workmanship the an iount of entering the casing woul be insignificant, and inthe ab- -sence of a 1 for packing ofanywould beiiee'ded.v

The turbine roper'isdes, as The casingof t e turbine consistsof the two casing fra-mes C, C; described, two side castings E E",, and "a center casting F. The side castings Efi'EF, areffitted accurately to the casing. v cast' F, and are bolted'cto them by suitable bolts marked 1). 1 The 'en'ter cast F and the casing number 0 chambersbymeans of the partitions marked :0, as shown in Fig. 1, and; the side castings E, with approximately, radial partitions which 3:, exceptas shown by thedottedlines the ring partitions Z"; Z, which" nng; p'arti-. tions are shown in section in Fig. 2,,and fitaccurat'ely upon the artitions' marked -X ,andthe port-rings R, *f'which they assist in'retaimng in position. I It will accordingly be seen that the turbineTca'Bing is divided on each'side into a series of chambers arranged approximately radially side by side and increasing" size'fromthe upper p bottom ofthe v The passagea'some ofwhich-are marked g'in ig. 1, extend the center casting F between each It: will be readily ap arent peratures upon its varilpu portions can in no way result in any-bin upon the shaft 8, a

fellows .E" are similarly providedartto. the

may'ibe placed, if desire fcondenser-.'it is obvious that no frames T Cijare divide into a. I

register accuratelywiththe partitions marked 1, which indicatetpartitionspassingbehind purpose of equalizing any inequalities of pressure which inight exist between the said pairs of chambers and are intended to pre-' vent any inequalities of axial thrust resulting from such different pressures. The center casting F may be proyided withthe web f, as shown, which may, if desired, be extended so as to out off the assages marked 9, and in this manner the c ambers on oneside oif'the casing may be prevented from commumc'ating with the similarly located chambers on the other side of the casing. .Such a d'vision would be necessar should the turbine be operated with one side only in a manner,

' 'ports' marked y, as shown inEig. 2, which subsequently to be explained; a

l The guide port-rings R, R of which R- is shown 1n vertical section in Fig. 1, for the purpose of showingthe relative sizes of the ports passing through the said rings, are fitted accurately to and are supported by the ,casing frames (3, C" andthe side castings E, E, as shown in- Fig. 2, and-each of'the said,

guideport-rings R, gt is provided with two 5 series of ports g outwardin a manner similar to the guide curves of a hydraulic turbine andvincreasing-in size fromthe upper part to the bottom of the said guide ortring,-the respective ports in each series eing 3 marked 3 y, yf, y,- y, y and g; each of the -sa1d chambers mto which the casing'is divided being provided with a port. Theports increase in size from the top to the bottom of thecasing, and this'increase' is calculated tocorrespond with the increasing volume of the expanding fluid, whiehfiows .at 'a uniformspeed through every -cine of the said ports as will subsequentlybee'x lained. 'A complete series of ports has? not can shown in Big- 1 for the sake of simplicity, a portion of each series being concealed by the" side casting E it is tobe understood, however, that the portsnot shown-increase. gradually in size 'om the port 'yto the port 3 on the right side, and from the portiy to the port y on the left side. V

Upon theshaft S" is suitabl secured the wheel-disk G which is inclose between the casing frames (3, C and -clears them by' a sm'all.space\ U on the peri hery G of the said wheel-disk aresu-itab y attached two rows ,of vanes orbucket blades marked V of any suitable shape,-one row on each' side.

Theblades V clear theXguideport-rings R,

5 R qnthe inside, and theedgesof the radial .pa'rtitions X by a-small space. H is .the inet .or su ply passage for the expansible fluid, and is the-exhaust.

At Q is shown a ridge upon the hub of the 0 wheldisk G, the object of which is to throw off any oil that ma work inward along the I- may be removetl and thereby prevented from n'fixin with the e'xh'aust;

Int e operatio i ifgf ltliejurbinejhegexpans 2. sane into two eql111a l portions, as shown'in Fig. 2, one of wh1c passes down on each side of the turbine. both sides are in all respects. similar, it is sufficient to describe one Sh only. The portion of expansible'fluid ing'down the side shown in Fig. 1 after eaving K pa'sses downward through. the side casting E between the radial partitions shown by'dotted lines and behind the ring partition Z, shown in Fi which with the C; This chamber L is provided with two are of equal size andthrough each of whicl passes one-half of the expansible fluid reach mg the. chamber L, one fourth of the entire amount enterin at H. As each of these ports is the beginning of an exactly similar series of ports-and chambers, it will be sufiicient to describe a single series of'the entire four. Taking the series shown on the left side of Fig.- 1, the jet of expansible fluid which passes through y makes an impact upon the vanes V of the rotating wheel-disk G j'and passes into the chamber M, from .sibl fluid entrs at H and is divided at aforesaid radial partitions forms a conduit 'or chamber for transmitting the expansibl fluid to the chamber L of the casing frame which it moves downward between the'radial partitions of the side casting E into the chamber N in a manner in all respects similar to the passage of the expansible fluid from K to L. From N the expansible fluid passes out through the port 3 against the vanes V into the chamber 0, and from 0 it passes downward and then upward through the 'porty and so on through the ports 3 and 11 and finally through the ports y and 1 to the exhaust J. It will be readily apparent that the expansible fluid operates through the series of ports shown on the rightside of Fig.1 in an exactly similar manner, and'the symmetrical position of the respective series of ports around the turbine tends to counterba ance any radial thrusts produced by the jetsvof ex ansible fluid upon the rotating wheel 4 disl: G. As the expansible fluid passes from each port through the vanes and into the succeeding chamber its velocitv is greatly reduced, audits kinetic energy not absorbed by the vanes is transformed into potential energv of pressure. The velocity of the expansible fluid through the chambers is accordingly so low as to reduce any skin friction to a minimum, but I may,- if'l dc-- sire, reduce the cross-sectional area of the chambers to any degree notincmnpa'tiblc with satisfactory o erat-ion. There is accordingly a series 0' continuedtransformations of potential-energ Y of ressure into 4 L v I kinetic energy, with a rcsu tant loss'of shaft S into thei: annel U, from which it I otential energ of pressure at each suececdess is carried on until" the pressure is reduced u .on the size and proportion of the ar-" ticular port to the series of orts to w ch it belongs, it is evident that y this method of constructing a. turbine the best conditions for thermodynamicefiiciency may be attained. It is generally'desirable, but not essential, to have the amount of kinetic energy developed at each port, and conseuently the velocities of the jets of expanslble fluid, uniform, which, as stated above, is gained by a proper proportioninlg of the successive ports; but mafy, if desire, adopt a different method '0 propgrtioning the ports in cases where other consi" erations than the highest theoretical efliciency are of importance.

rom the foregoing description it would.

appear that one sideionly of the turbine, as for instance that shown in Fig. 1, forms a complete turbine, but the reason for adding the other side, as shown in Fig. 2, is to prepletely eliminated.

vent allaxial thrust, which is thereby com- In Fig. 2 I show a thrust lock T which may be oiany suitable form, as indicated, and'is intended merely to prevent the wheel disk G from moving sidewise and striking the sides of the turbine casing,

should the bearings of the shaft S not be strictly horizontal, or for any other reason extraneous to the internal operation of the turbine. I ma also provide buiiers or collars of any suitable form within or without the casing for the same purpose, which I have not shown for the sake of sim licity, as their pro ortions and location wo d readily su est t emselves.

ile I have shown an outward flow radial turbine, I may if I so'desire adapt in method of construction to any of the' well known forms of turbines, as, fori'nstance, to

'a parallel or axial flow turbine; and I may also dispense with one side of niy turbine, should this construction under certain 'conditions be desirable, as in cases where the turbine is used. in connection with a screw propeller, where the turbine may be constructed with two entirely separateand disdistinct sides, one producing a motion of rotation in thereverse direction to the other; in either direction the axial thrust being balanced against the thrust of the screw.

Having now fully illustrated and described my invention, what I desire particularly to claim is 1. A turbine .for 'expansible fluids comprising a casing having a plurality of series of chambers for the expansible iaiid, graduated orts in the said casing leading from one cham er into the next succeeding chamber rotation, and a casing provided with a' plu rality of series of chambers, each chamber havin a graduated port or nozzle leadin intot e c amber next succeeding it, an

' each of the said series -of chambers bein situated adjoining one face of the wheel isk, a row of bucket blades bein -interposed bewheel-disk having bucket blades ar ranged in circles concentric with its axis of.

tween each of the orts and the next succeeding chamber of eac ofthejsaid series of chambers.

4. A turbine for ex l ansi'ble fluids compris ing a wheel disk provided with bucket bladesand a casing having a pluralityof chambers arranged in a plurality of series witli 'a graduated port or nozzle leading from each chamber to the chamber next succeeding it, each series of chambers being situated adjoining one face of the wheel disk and the said chambersand graduated orts increasing in size to correspond with t 6 increasing volume of the expanding fluid.

5. A turbine for ex ansible fluids comprising a wheel-disk provided with bucket blades, and a casing having chambers arranged radially in series an communicating by means of ports proportioned to produce a predetermined fall of pressure, each of said series being situated adjoining the face of said wheel disk.

6; A turbine for expansible fluids comprising a wheel-disk provided with bucket blades, and a casing having an inlet for the expansible fluid and an exhaust arranged diametrically opposite thereto, and havingchambers arranged in series and communicatirr by means of ports, each. of said series of c 1ambers communicating with the said inlet and the said exhaust, and bein situated adjoining one face only of the sai wheel disk.

. 7. A turbine for expansible fluids comprising a casing having a plurality'of series of' chambers, each series consisting of a succession of chambers containing the expansible fluid in decreasing stages of pressure, the said chambers being provided with a series of ports or nozzles so roportioncd as to produce a predetermined fall of pressure from chamber to chamber; and a single row of blades cooperating with each of series of ports or nozzles.

the said 8. A turbine for expansiblefiuidscomprissaid ports or nozzles, eech of said series of ing a casing having a plurality of seriesof ports or nozzles cooperating with a single I chambers or reservoirs, each series consisting row of bucket blades.

v of a succession of reservoirs, communicating v BENJAMINv S. CHURCH. 5 successively by means of a corres onding Witnesses:

series of orts or nozzles; and a whee having THOMAS G. HILLHOUSE, rows of' ucket blades cooperating with the I ETHEL D. RAZ'EY; 

